WICHITA, Kan. -- What started with a car theft turned into an escape and resulting chase that ended with the male fugitive being caught hiding out in a woman's restroom by an officer who received a ride from a pizza deliveryman. http://deephousepage.com/smilies/leb.gif

Wichita police say an officer who stopped a car Sunday afternoon discovered that it was a vehicle stolen from a sales lot two days earlier. The driver, a 30-year-old man, said he had some injuries that needed treatment. Police, who didn't know the nature of the injuries the man claimed to have, had him taken to a hospital emergency room.

Police said that after being treated the man asked to use the restroom and an officer escorted him there and waited outside. A short time later, he was spotted in the air lock at the exit of the emergency room, and he ran out of the hospital with the officer in pursuit, police said.

The restroom had only one door, and police said the man must have stood on a railing in the stall, climbed into the ceiling and made his way to the exit.

Police said the man conned a motorist at a convenience store into giving him a ride. A pizza delivery driver who saw the pursuing officer gave him a ride and they followed the car to a fast food restaurant.

When the officer went in, he spotted the man peeking out the door of the women's restroom and took him back into custody.

milkmania

12-20-2005, 09:36 PM

Man in Santa Suit Robs Texas Bank

December 20, 2005, 4:47 PM EST

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Santa Claus came to town, and he left with an undisclosed amount of cash. A man dressed as Old St. Nick walked into a Wachovia Bank in this Dallas suburb early Tuesday and told the teller he had a gun. No weapon was produced, and no one was injured in the heist.

Instead of a sleigh, he fled in a gray or silver car.

A description of the man, more than 6 feet tall and weighing about 230 pounds, didn't exactly match the best known resident of the North Pole.

He had a "muscular build," dark hair and brown eyes, according to police.